Friday, December 30, 2016

Mike Preston of Windham has run over 1,000 miles in 2016,
and he completed it with weeks to spare in the year. Mike, an employee at WEX,
doesn’t consider himself a runner. He loves to run, but he’s not obsessed with
learning about the sport or following successful runners. He just laces up his
sneakers and heads out the door putting one foot in front of the other.

“I didn’t think I could really make it,” he said about
his 1,000 mile goal. Last year he ran 800 miles. “It just sort of happened,” he
said. When he set his goal of 1,000 miles he knew anything could derail his
plans like injury, illness or family obligations, but in the Preston household
running is more than a hobby – it’s a lifestyle.

Mike started running in late 2011 off and on. He was
never athletic growing up, preferring to stay in the background and finish gym
class runs in the middle of the pack to avoid attention.

“I don’t study technique. I’m not interested in runners.
I do it for me. I’m not concerned with what others are doing,” Mike said. “I
didn’t run most of my adult life.”

At the end of 2011, his running friends challenged Mike
and his wife, Meesh, a high school sprinter, to run 12 (5K) races in 12 months
in 2012, 12/12/12. “It was too cool of a name not to get involved,” Mike said.
Once he started running, he realized that he was pretty good at it.

The competition of the 12 races kept him going all year
long. In 2013, they continued the trend adding in another race. In 2014, Meesh
named the running group “Between a rock and a hard pace.” There were 30 people
in the group with between 8 and 15 regularly showing up for races.

“It’s a community of lots of people we’d have never met,”
Mike said about his running friends. “Windham’s great for running,” he added.
He also plans to run all of the roads in Windham this upcoming year proving the
town is great for runners.

“Getting the miles and races in every month kept us on task.
We had to stay in shape,” Meesh said.

They started doing “fancy 10Ks” next. Then came the “big,
audacious goals” like a half marathon in New Hampshire.

“Neither one of us said we have to do a marathon,” said
Meesh.

“Now, that’s the goal for next year,” Mike responded. “I
like the challenge (of running),” he added.

Using a running app, he worked to reach his weekly goal
of 20 miles. In the spring, Mike lost some of his motivation toward his 1,000
miles after the last, big, spring race. He didn’t run much in June, but the
Beach to Beacon loomed and he knew he had to get back out on the road in order
to be ready for that race and other fall races. “I needed to make sure I got
back on track,” Mike said. Mike had help reaching his goal from his running
partner Todd Guite, who reached his 1,000 miles the week after Mike.

Mike and Meesh enter races together. They don’t run
together, but Meesh is okay with that. “He’s at the finish line every single
time for me,” she said.

One of their favorite races is the Ragnar, a 200 mile
race for teams of 12. No matter how rough the conditions or hard the race, at
the end Mike can’t help but say how great the race was. “You feel a sense of
pride,” he said.

They also participate in the Team Kyle race yearly. They
have a small room in their home they call the medal room with prizes earned and
pictures from the races. The Ragnar races have a special display with the
oversized medals hanging from the frame. Although they love the races, Meesh
admits that she loves the medals, too. Mike prefers hanging out with his
friends.

Meesh has never had a gym membership and Mike has no
interest in doing bootcamps or working out in a gym. “I can see immediate
results,” Mike said. When he finishes a run, he can put in the distance and see
the progress he’s making toward his goal.

The Prestons have two children, who do not run. Sam, did
middle school cross country and has run a few 5Ks, but “he hated every single
one of them,” Meesh said. Julia, a freshman in college refuses to run. “You
couldn’t pay her to run, except once,” Meesh added, when she paid Julia $20 to
run a 5K. Since then Julia and Sam have become great volunteers for the races
their parents run in and the Windham High School Project Grad 5K, which Mike
and Meesh coordinate.

“I love running in the middle of the dark road at night
with the moon and stars,” Mike said. He’s not done running just because he made
his goal. He set another goal to run at least a mile every day in December and
he’s on track to meet that one. He also plans to run another 1,000 miles next
year.

Friday, December 23, 2016

In my view, the 127th Legislature was a great
success. We addressed the opioid addiction crisis, invested in our
infrastructure and schools, and made our welfare laws more sensible, among many
other things. For my part, I am very pleased that my bills protecting children
from abuse, keeping the election polls free from intimidation and improved
carbon monoxide safety regulations were all signed into law. But the time to
reflect on what we have accomplished is over. Now we must prepare for the next
session and a new set of challenges.

Over the years I have heard from you about three issues
in particular that could use some consideration: Stronger deterrents for
would-be animal abusers, reducing property taxes in order to allow folks to
keep more of their hard-earned money, and eliminating the all-too-common
practice of using hand-held devices — cell phones — while driving.

Animal abuse is one thing that has bothered me for as
long as I can remember, not only because it is a terrible thing to harm a
defenseless creature, but because of what it says about us as people. Are we
the type of society that looks the other way and allows this kind of cruelty,
or are we kind, sympathetic and sophisticated enough to make sure this behavior
is strongly discouraged and severely punished?

As a member of the board of directors for the Maine State
Society for the Protection of Animals (MSSPA) I see the sad results of animal
abuse way too often. Maybe it's time to take bold action in order to
significantly reduce cruelty to animals. That is why I will introduce a
bill that will make the most serious offenses of animal abuse a felony. We must
deter the types of people who would do such a thing by instituting stiff penalties
for such a crime. I would like to hear your thoughts on my bill - good or bad
idea? Changes you'd make?

Also on my radar screen for next year is to address the
steady drumbeat of frustration over property taxes. For too long Maine property
owners have been taxed to the hilt, and as I and others have pointed out
repeatedly, these taxes do not account for how many mouths you have to feed,
whether you are on a fixed income, or anything else other than property value.

The state addressed this issue in the 1970s with a revenue
sharing program, which put 5 percent of income and sales tax back into the
pockets of Mainers in the form of property tax relief. Over the years, changes
were made to the program: Large cuts were made and the money started being diverted
to plug holes in the state and local budgets. In the upcoming legislative
session, I will propose to reinstate the original purpose of the revenue
sharing program and require that all of the money be used for direct property
tax relief, as it was originally intended. Property taxes are critical to
funding education and many other pressing needs in the State of Maine, but they
must be levied fairly and cease to be such an enormous burden on the working
class and those of fixed incomes.

Finally, while Maine already has a law on the books that
prohibits texting while driving, we all know that any use of
hand-held devices while behind the wheel is dangerous. When I see someone
trying to dial a phone or send a text and then drifting into the lane of oncoming
traffic — and it happens often — I think about the accidents this reckless
behavior can easily cause. Sadly, the statistics bear this out.

Those who engage in this dangerous activity put other
innocent people in serious danger. I plan on re-introducing my bill from last
year that will ban all use of hand-held devices while driving. There is
extensive research to support the need of my bill. Handless phone devices would
still be allowed under my law. It seems to me that when behind the wheel of a
moving car, the law should mandate that we pay attention to the road, not our
phones.

These matters are not Democratic or Republican, liberal
or conservative. They are common-sense solutions to problems that affect so
many of us. So I am looking forward to celebrating Christmas with my family and
I certainly wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a safe New Year. I look
forward meeting my new colleagues in the senate, greet my old friends on both
sides of the aisle — and get to work.

As always, please feel free to contact me at diamondhollyd@aol.com or (207)
287-1515, if you have questions or comments.

This week Colette Gagnon at the Windham
Food Pantry accepted 75 pounds of cake mixes and frosting from Dana Reed
(right) of Sebago Lakes Ukulele Society (SLUKES). For the past two years
members of the SLUKES have gathered to sing and play on the first Thursday of
every month in the downstairs room at Buck’s Naked BBQ. Each month participants
bring canned goods or non-perishable food items to be donated to the Windham
Food Pantry. Every month, the group’s ‘benevolent dictator’ and musical
director Dana Reed weighs and records the amount to be delivered. This month
the group crested the 500 pound mark contributed for those in need!Mahalo, nui loa to all its members!

On May 10, 2016, Chase Custom Homes
filed intent to purchase property at 660 Roosevelt Trail for the purpose of establishing
an Auto Shine Car Wash. As a follow up, earlier this week at a public hearing,
the Windham Planning Board members were presented with a 71 page packet reflecting
the towns required revisions on behalf of Chase by James Amos, professional
engineer of Terradyn Consultants LLC. The plans submitted were for an 8,888
square foot car wash facility and 1,248 square foot auto detailing garage. What
that amounts to in consumer terms is two self-service bays, one large automatic
wash w/tracks and two smaller versions also with tracks.

Currently there is only one other Auto
Shine in Maine which is located in Topsham.

“This building will look pretty much
identical to that location,” explained Amos. Concerns regarding waste water
removal were high on the towns list. “Investment has been made with the
purchase of high tech water re-use and recycle water system provided by Aqua Bio
Technologies. In summary, it’s like a mini-treatment plant on-site. Nothing
from the washing process will enter the ground water,” continued Amos.

Traffic flow concerns were also addressed.”
The access to Route 302 will be limited to right turning traffic for exiting
vehicles. No left turns will be permitted onto Route 302 from the main
entrance. All customers that wish to turn North onto Route 302 will be directed
to the River Road exit, where they can enter Route 302 at the River Road
signalized intersection,” said Amos.

The resulting unanimous decision was to
accept and approve the final plans.

It’s
unlikely that you could miss the fact that it’s Christmas season. Everywhere you
turn, there are decorations, songs, advertisements and displays. Even people who
don’t celebrate the holiday probably have at least a basic understanding of
what the holiday is about – particularly the secular celebrations. But this
isn’t always true for other holidays that are also celebrated at this time of
year, like Hanukkah.

Hanukkah, which means
“dedication” in Hebrew, is a Jewish celebration that lasts eight days. It is a
time to commemorate the purification and rededication of the Second Temple in
Jerusalem. Though there seem to be several versions (as with most stories from
long ago) among historians and scholars of the actual events that occurred, the
basic story remains the same. In a time of great oppression, when Judaism was
outlawed under Antiochus IV and the Seleucid monarchy, there was a rebellion
and the Jewish people emerged victorious.

Legend
has it that the temple, desecrated and devastated, was reclaimed in
approximately 165 BCE, and the troops wanted to purify the temple by relighting
the ner tamid (eternal light) to burn constantly in the temple. They discovered
that there was oil enough for just one day, but lit the menorah anyway. A
miracle occurred, with that small bit of oil lasting for eight days, allowing
for time for a messenger to secure more oil.

The holiday begins
on the 25th of Kislev on the Hebrew calendar, which places the
holiday in late November or December. Because the Hebrew calendar is lunar, the
date is not the same each year.

Hanukkah is not
considered a major holiday in Jewish law, and has no restrictions on working,
school or other activities. Still, because of the holiday’s proximity to the
Christmas season, it has become largely celebrated, particularly in North
America.

Like any holiday,
there are many traditions around Hanukkah, including lighting a menorah,
traditional food and games and gift exchanges.

One
tradition that celebrates the miracle of the oil is the lighting of a special
menorah, known as a hunukkiyah, every night for eight days. The first night
after sundown, one candle is lit, with an additional candle added each night
until there are eight candles burning. A ninth candle, the shamash (helper) is
used to light the others. The ritual often includes the recitation of
blessings, and the menorah is often displayed prominently in a window to commemorate
the miracle.

Traditional
foods consumed on Hanukkah are fried in oil, another reference to the Hanukkah
miracle. Two of the most popular foods are latkes (potato pancakes) and
sufganiyot (jam-filled doughnuts).

Other traditions
include playing a game with dreidels, four sided tops with a Hebrew letter on
each side and chocolate coins. Some Hanukkah celebrations also include gift
exchanges.